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What is a garage/psych compilation?
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A number of bands in the 1960s made only a handful of recordings and then disappeared. In the years that followed, collectors began compiling these obscure recordings and re-releasing them as LP-length collections. Beginning with Lenny Kaye's Nuggets compilation in 1972, these compilations varied greatly in terms of sound quality and documentation. The radio markets were still largely regional in the 1960s and many of the compilations focus on a specific city or record label. Other compilations focus on a musical style. In recent years, Rhino and other labels have released CD box set collections. Much of the music on these compilations is derivative and forgettable, but a great many gems are to be found.
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Genres
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Garage Rock, Garage Punk
The British invasion inspired many people to start their own bands. Most of these bands were made up of young, middle-class men. The term "garage" comes from the place many of these bands used to rehearse, but the term "garage rock" came to be applied to simple, riff driven rock & roll. The themes of garage rock are adolescent concerns, most often girls. Garage rock was most common in the mid-1960s, peaking from about 1965 to 1967 and was mainly an American phenomenon.
Beat
The British invasion itself was largely a response to US influences, particularly R&B and Blues. Beat is more toward the R&B end of the scale and was more common in the UK and Europe than in the US.
Psychedelia
As drugs, particularly LSD, became more fashionable, the music of garage bands began to take on news forms and new themes. Psychedelia took somewhat different courses in the US and the UK. Psychedelia in the UK tended to be more whimsical and the music often had a childlike tone or carnival themes. American psychedelia darker and more repetitive than British psych, relying more heavily on distortion and repetition to achieve its effects.
Proto-punk
A number of bands marched to the beat of their own drummer, as it were. Bands such as the Velvet Underground, the MC5, and the Stooges exerted a strong influence over the punk rock explosion of the late 1970s—not necessarily with their music, but with their attitude and their independence.
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Resources
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Borderline Books On-Line Library
Borderline Books features Vernon Joynson's reference books on Fuzz, Acid and Flowers, covering US garage/psych from the 1960s and 1970s, The Tapestry of Delights on UK psych, and Dreams, Fantasies and Nightmares, covering Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Latin America. The Borderline Books website went down some time in 2004 but these web pages are still available through soybomb.com.
The Garage Compilation Database
The Garage Compilation Database is an online version of Menachem Turchick's "Searchin' for Shakes," which is a comprehensive list of garage/psych compilations including track and band information. You can download an Access97 version of this database from Searchin' For Shakes.
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Question? Comment?
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Garage/Psych Compilations
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